Ex-deputy acquitted in K-9 cruelty trial

By Samuel Howard, San Antonio Express-News

Updated 11:46 am, Friday, June 6, 2014

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Deputy Ebony Jones looks at Duke, his K-9 partner, in an undated photo provided by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Duke died inside a patrol car as Jones was preparing to take him to a veterinarian.

Deputy Ebony Jones looks at Duke, his K-9 partner, in an undated photo provided by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Duke died inside a patrol car as Jones was preparing to take him to a veterinarian.

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Former Bexar County Deputy Ebony Jones faced up to two years in a state jail in the death of his K-9 partner, Duke, in 2010.

Former Bexar County Deputy Ebony Jones faced up to two years in a state jail in the death of his K-9 partner, Duke, in 2010.

Photo: Helen L. Montoya / Express-News

Ex-deputy acquitted in K-9 cruelty trial

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SAN ANTONIO — After an instructed verdict from visiting judge George Godwin, jurors agreed Friday to acquit former Bexar County deputy Ebony Jones of cruelty to animals for the death of his K-9 partner.

Duke, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, died in the back of Jones' squad car on June 16, 2010, while the deputy made a routine stop at a substation.

Had he been convicted, Jones, 38, would have faced up to two years in a state jail.

But once prosecutors rested Friday morning, Jones' attorney, Mark Stevens, asked Godwin to instruct the jury to reach a not guilty verdict based on what Godwin and Stevens both later called “insufficient evidence.”

Instructed verdicts are often requested by defense attorneys but rarely granted. Stevens said it was the third one he's seen in all of his cases spanning the last 35 years.

Prosecutor Jessica Frazier had called first responders to Duke's death to the witness stand this week.

For more on this story, visit ExpressNews.com or read the Saturday print edition of the San Antonio Express-News.